Overview

Each of the viewports in UnrealEd’s level editor has a toolbar along the top that contains a great deal of functionality commonly needed when working with levels and actors within those levels. Functionality for showing or hiding virtually any specific type of geometry or assets, changing the view mode of the viewport, controlling camera speed, and much, much more can be found in the buttons and menus of the viewport toolbar.

Viewport Options

This button opens a menu containing a selection of options, some of which can also be found as buttons elsewhere in the toolbar. Among the options found here are SHOW flags, view modes, and viewport type.

As of October 2011, Right-clicking the Viewport Options button will display a standalone Show Flags window for easy control of what is displayed in the viewport.

Show

This options opens a sub-menu containing all the various Show flags that can be toggled on or off to show or hide certain types of geometry and helpers in the viewport. There is also an option to reset the current Show flags to the default values, which can be very useful when something is not appearing in your viewport that you are sure should be, as well as the ability to set the collision mode used when displaying collision.

For more information on the various Show flags, see the Show Flags page.

Show Volumes

This option opens a sub-menu with flags for toggling the display of all of the different types of volumes available, as well as the ability to show all and hide all.

Show Groups

This option opens a sub-menu containing flags for toggling the display of any groups, and subsequently the actors contained within those groups, the user has created in the current level(s), as well as the ability to show all and hide all.

Viewport Type

This option opens a sub-menu containing the types of viewports available, Perspective, Top, Front, and Side, enabling you to switch the current viewport to any particular type of viewport.

Realtime

Toggling this option on will turn on realtime feedback in the viewport for previewing animated materials, particle effects, sounds, etc.

Hotkey: Ctrl + R

Show FPS

Toggling this option on will display the current frames per second that the level is being rendered at in the current viewport. This gives quick feedback to areas where performance may be an issue, but keep in mind that there are other things going on in the editor and other viewports being rendered so it may not always be the most accurate in terms of pure numbers.

Hotkey: Shift + H

Show Stats

Toggling this option on will enable the display of statistics in the level editor viewports just as they can be viewed in the game. Different sets of statistics can be enabled through the use of console commands entered into the editor’s console in the status bar.

Hotkey: Shift + L

For more information on what statistics commands are available, see the Statistics Console Commands?.

View Modes

This section contains a list of the different view modes available that the viewport can use to render the scene.

Game View

Toggling this option on causes the viewport to render the level as the game would render it, hiding all items that would not be displayed in the normal game.

Hotkey: G

Unreal Matinee Preview

Toggling this option on causes the viewport to show a preview of the current Matinee sequence when the Matinee Editor is open.

Unlit Movement

Toggling this option on causes the viewport to switch to the Unlit view mode when the user is navigating within the viewport in order to make the navigation smoother and quicker. In large scenes with a great deal of geometry, moving around in the viewports can be cumbersome. Enabling this option makes this situations much easier.

View Culling / Occlusion

Toggling this option on sets the current viewport as the occlusion parent and activates occlusion viewing in any other perspective viewports that currently exist in the editor. This makes it possible to see what geometry is being occluded and culled from the viewpoint of the occlusion parent in any other perspective viewport.

Viewport Type

Left-clicking this button will cycle through the available viewport types, Perspective, Top, Front, and Side. Right-clicking the button will open a menu to choose a new viewport type for the viewport.

Hotkey: Alt + F, Alt + G, Alt + H, Alt + J

Real Time

Toggling this button on will turn on realtime feedback in the viewport for previewing animated materials, particle effects, sounds, etc.

Hotkey: Ctrl + R

View Modes

The next group of buttons set the viewport to use one of the available viewmodes. For more information on what view modes are available and their function, see the View Modes page.

Brush Wireframe

This button causes the viewport to render using the brush wireframe view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 1

Wireframe

This button causes the viewport to render using the wireframe view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 2

Unlit

This button causes the viewport to render using the unlit view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 3

Lit

This button causes the viewport to render using the lit view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 4

Detail Lighting

This button causes the viewport to render using the detail lighting view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 5

Lighting Only

This button causes the viewport to render using the lighting only view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 6

Light Complexity

This button causes the viewport to render using the light complexity view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 7

Texture Density

This button causes the viewport to render using the texture density view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 9

Shader Complexity

This button causes the viewport to render using the shader complexity view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 8

LightMap Density

This button causes the viewport to render using the lightmap density view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + 0

Lighting Only w/ Texel Density

This button causes the viewport to render using the lighting only with texel density view mode.

Hotkey: Alt + Hyphen ( - )

Game View

Toggling this button on causes the viewport to render the level as the game would render it, hiding all items that would not be displayed in the normal game.

Hotkey: G

Lock Viewport

Toggling this button on causes the viewport to ignore commands to reposition the viewport’s camera, such as focusing on the selected actor using the context menu’s Go to Actor command.

Lock Selected Actors to Camera

Toggling this button on causes all selected actors to have their positions and orientation locked to the position and orientation of the viewport’s camera. This is a good way to reposition actors which need to be positioned and oriented to view a specific actor or location, such as when animating cameras for cinematics.

Level streaming Volume Previs

Toggling this button on causes level streaming actions due to LevelStreamingVolumes to be displayed within the viewport.

Post Process Volume Previs

Toggling this button on causes changes to post processing due to PostProcessVolumes to be displayed in the viewport.

Camera Movement Speed

Left-clicking this button cycles through the available camera movement speeds. Right-clicking the button will open a menu to choose a speed from directly.

Play In Viewport

Clicking this button will load the current level for play directly in the current viewport..

Tear Off Floating Copy

Clicking this button will create a new floating copy, meaning a separate window not docked in the editor, of the current viewport.

Maximize Viewport

Toggling this button on maximizes the current viewport, causing it to take up the entire viewport area of the level editor. Toggling it off restores the viewport to its previous size and location.